


Harem Leader

by NightRaiderGirl



Category: Original Work
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Dreamworld, F/M, Fantasy, Friendship, Gods, Gods that are crackheads, Reverse Harem, Romance, Sass, School, Slice of Life, Squad adventures, Teasing, The Kingdom of Eurisalim, slowburn, tags to be updated
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-09
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-10 06:31:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15943721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightRaiderGirl/pseuds/NightRaiderGirl
Summary: Eliza Maynore was your average highschool freshman: decent grades, some hidden talent, had a crush, a few memey friends. She wasn't particularly standing out. That's also perhaps what she was aiming for.....before the accident at the very least.But when that drunk driver hit their car, her peaceful life was shattered... . To such extent that the God of the Underworld, Sathor, mistook her soul for being already done for. (or that's what His Darkness wanted everyone to believe)In a rather funny turn of events, Sathor ended up cursing her. It was the sweetest curse he had ever cast upon someone:Everyone shall like her! (it's about romance here)How did it come to this? And why is it a curse and not a blessing? Delve into a funny and silly world where a wallflower is turned into one true Harem Leader over night. May the Games of Fake Love and Creepy Following Around begin!





	Harem Leader

**Author's Note:**

> Just one random story I came up with after having one hell of a dream lol.
> 
> The first chapter is divided in a few sub-chapters, where most of the main cast is presented.  
> "*" stands for additional information. (like the characters that will be introduced and are part of the main or side cast.)
> 
> Thank you for reading!!!

***Eliza, her brother Alsiel, their mother**

She looked up, trying to understand how to deal with the freezing cold wind. It only reminded her that autumn and its coldness were annoyingly good stalkers. The girl heard herself sighing and, before even realizing it, she was glancing towards the empty street that always lead her to the school she was attending.  
  
He was going to walk on that same street, irrespective of all that she was thinking and feeling... . _Ah, there is just no hope_ , she thought, _for Zeera's brother to ever_ _think of me in any way, let alone see me as a girl_.  
  
As those words hopped around in her mind though, the blonde girl had to give in to her struggles and let a petite, childish smile imprison her features. It was gigglish enough to think of him so early in the morning, but to reffer to him as Zeera's brother? Now this was a fantastic step forward, that was for sure. She wasn't even capable of mentioning his name anymore, even if only her thoughts were involved. So hopelessly in love, tsk, tsk, tsk... .  
  
“Eliza!” , someone shouted, as a gust of wind stumbled against her once again.  
  
She turned around, a puzzled look on her face. “What is it?”, she hesitantly inquired.  
  
Her mother, the one to previously speak up, was an imposing woman with an intimidating aura to her, but she was far from being a bad person. She was rather....the pack leader among other wolves. Metaphorically speaking, of course.  
  
“Are you not forgetting something, young lady? Did I not tell you to take this to Zeera or Julian? We must thank their parents for all the help they offered us...”  
  
She had indeed forgotten, yet she decided to keep quiet, trying to give a refined air to her stance. _Letting my newly acquired mask slip so easily would be quite regretful,_ the girl thought, stupidly proud of her beautiful choice of words. She'd have to write this down as soon as she gets the chance.  
  
“I...I'm sorry mom, I've completely forgotten”, Eliza still admitted in the end. Her mother's strong gaze was at fault, darn it.  
  
“This is exactly why we're still keeping your brother around, you know. To remind you, honey.” Her mother's lips formed a teasing smile and it didn't last long until it reached her eyes too.  
  
Eliza sighed dramatically. “Didn't you mean...to expose me? To betray me? To...”  
  
“That's enough, sis, I'm barely the villain here, y'know...”  
  
The blonde girl chuckled and glanced through the slightly open door, feeling a smile warming up to her as soon as she noticed her brother's smug grin.  
  
_You little bastard_ , her eyes whispered in his direction, searching for an answer.  
  
_You're welcome, sis. Now you have a good reason to talk to him._ The look on his face could be truly expressive at times.  
  
She rolled her eyes a little embarassed before proceeding to take a small box from her mother's hand and finally leave for school. Sheesh, she was for sure going to be late at this rate... .  
  


* * *

  
***Julian, Eliza**  
  
They had always walked towards one another, not knowing of this strange coincidence. It was almost as if fate itself had been scheming something all along. And in that particularly chilly morning, they crossed paths again.  
  
Julian Hyem and Eliza Maynore had known each other since their early childhood, yet their bond wasn't exactly one that could be called in usual terms 'friendship'. Honestly speaking, there wasn't really any bond between them. And yet, it was true that Eliza was in love with this boy she somehow didn't manage to create a bond with. A rather foolish behaviour, some would say, and “inappropriate”, the rest. The latter because Julian was the heir to the great Hyem family's fortune and the former because, well... he was not someone to observe any existence below his status.  
  
Eliza was not a girl to stand out, she was not particularly pretty or talented either. She did have a talent involving writing and languages, however it was something obscure, not really known by anyone else. Utter dullness really.  
  
The boy was nevertheless a strange individual, his very personality being the cruel battlefield of several opposing ideals and desires. On the one hand, he wanted everyone's attention kneeling right before his eyes; he had been secretly hoping for those around to watch him and talk. To talk about his pretty handsome face, his attractive body, how he looked indeed like someone really famous and to ask what his name was. In spite of his inexperienced age -Julian had barely turned 16 a few weeks prior to the begin of this story- he had not been wrong in having such wishes. The ones gravitating around the boy had already granted him every single one of these, simply put, foolish desires. It was exactly this side of his life that was like scattered thorns on the path he was barefoot walking on though... .  
  
His days had always been haunted by bitter thoughts of insecurity and loneliness. Little Lord Hyem had felt a certain degree of being led astray from all that meant human warmth ever since he was a little kid. The world had seemed as cold to his baby eyes as it looked now to him. Of course, his family was well respected in the society, but he knew, he secretly knew that people were talking behind his back. Their words were nothing more than poison kept in shiny wrappings.  
  
On the day when he finally realized how stupid he had been, always searching for the prying gaze of true hyenas, he swore to grow stronger. It was clicheic, but it was exactly what his heart longed for the most. Wanting to be one of them? To be appreciated by them? Heh, what a stupid joke. One could only address his parents using “Lord” or “Lady”, yet he had lived for a good number of years wishing to be like the rest, a pitiful scavenger. He'll become a predator, he swore on that day. And he'll devour those same scavengers that had brought him in such a regretful state.  
  
Step by step, he was going to grow stronger than everyone else and rule over them. The other people were nothing but pawns, never his equals. He would be King and they would be his insignificant servants.  
  
This is why, in that particular morning, Julian's eyes were casting shades of contempt upon each and every unfortunate enough individual to find themselves in his proximity. He was walking down the grey road with such a scary certainty in his steps that Eliza felt herself shivering the moment she laid eyes on his slender figure.  
  
If she was not mistaken, then it was him that had passed her by a few moments before. She hadn't felt his gaze upon her at all and this simple, presumably insignificant fact had been more than enough to wound that beautiful smile of hers. Even the light morning fog engulfing them wanted to shout “But maybe he did not notice it was you!”, such sadness could bring her sudden mood change to everything surrounding her.  
  
Poor little fog was sadly not able to say any words whatsoever to anyone, let alone the blonde girl. It would have been useless either way, really. These stupid feelings of hers would never be requited, she knew...for he was being stubborn enough to shield his memories from remembering her.  
  
Suddenly painfully aware that the girl he had just passed by was indeed going in the exact same direction as he was, Julian looked over his shoulder, not less than bored to death. “Heh...pitiful”, he murmured against the cold wind, seemingly waiting for these words to light up his empty gaze and bring a smirk to his lips. _It_ _must hurt a bit to know that you can't even look my way...you'll be blinded by my shine and you'll fall right away..._ . Unfortunately, he truly didn't recognize her.  
  
What the little King was surely not expecting -as stated before actually- was for the girl to raise her head from the ground and meet his gaze and thoughts midway. He was the one standing on the throne, yet a mere servant had caught him off guard. He unexpectedly felt the urge to run his fingers through his light brown hair to appeal to those enchanting blue eyes. Harassed by such a peasantly urge, he quickly let his hand down and frowned, putting an end to the dangerous eye contact.  
  
Julian's gaze slipped to her other features and realized not necessarily surprised that there was nothing special about her. Pleased with his discovery, the little King tilted his head arrogantly, still not letting her escape his eyes' rough grip.  
  
“Hmph...”, he then whispered, failing to wipe a smug grin off his face. “She's still looking after all.. . This might as well end up being quite fun.”  
  
  
  
The leaves falling over the blonde girl were looking empty and cold to her. The world had caught a grim, unwelcoming undertone as Eliza tried to convince herself that he remembered her for sure, he just couldn't care less about her existence. It was certainly not the most reassuring thought... . A gust of wind engulfed her so suddenly as if wanting to nuzzle her. With a new angelic smile getting used to her features, preparing to take them all over, she murmured: “Such coldness... . There's no way I'm letting you off like this, Julian. You're a little too heartless for my taste.”  
  
  


* * *

  
  
***Julian, Zeera**  
  
It was particularly dark in that hallway. And worryingly quite too. Julian had been walking around for enough time now to know that the hallway was endless and not leading anywhere.  
  
Letting out an amused sigh, Julian proceeded to sit down on the cold floor, leaning with his back against the wall.  
  
“All I have to do now is wait for this dream to end, huh...”, the boy whispered to himself, slowly closing his eyes to not let the darkest feelings of this rather unwelcoming environment reach him. With a peaceful smile being drawn on his lips, he was slowly dozing off, falling farther and farther away from the dreamworld. Until it happened...  
  
“I-DI-OT!”  
  
A cruelly loud voice echoed right next to his ear and was powerful enough to send him with a shiver back to the real world. He blinked a few times with just the right amount of confusion spread all over his face and tried to get accustomed to the light harassing his nearly vampiric eyes. The little King muttered something impossible to understand, but -at least to the girl in front of him- he sounded just like a grumpy puppy.  
  
As soon as he managed to focus his gaze , his eyes widened in surprise and he immediately got rid of the childish behaviour he was showing the girl. It was cute and no less than absolutely adorable how his reactions could always be compared to those of a pet with a feral heart. But “adorable” was the type of word that Julian despised.  
  
He glanced in her direction, attempting to stab her with the dangerous annoyance in his eyes. It was not the moment for him to let his guard down: the King had to keep everyone else in check indirectly. He had to show the others his true colors, to show them that he was never in a position of inferiority. Not even in front of this smiling redhead that was really just his sister and not the popular girl talking to him out of pure interest that everyone else saw.  
  
What these two were doing, hiding their true relationship from Julian's classmates, was nothing more but a mere game. It could be said that she was doing her very best to help him paint some more interesting shapes on the mask he was showing the rest.  
  
“Hey there.” His whisper was bored.“Anything you want, honey?”  
  
With a fake, but definitely sweet grin, the redhead was trying to catch any so subtle movement from the corner of her eyes to see if there was anyone watching their played exchange of words. It was then that her grin turned into a radiating, teasingly seductive smile. She saw the little playful ray of light from her half-brother's eyes too. The moment was perfect for another little and innocent act, for they were truly watched. The audience was not one to be ignored either. The girl starring at them without even the slightest subtlety was the Vice President of Julian's class. And oh boy....was the look in her eyes dangerous... .  
  
“So, love, was there any reason whatsoever for waking me up?” His words were like a demanding hand placed on her cheek. It was about time she focused only on him.  
  
Unable to kill her giggle early enough, it managed to conquer even her eyes. Zeera tilted her head in an unsuccessful attempt to keep her cool. Even after a whole semester, it was still so hard to be called such names by her younger brother, without bursting out laughing and betraying the character she was playing.  
  
“Nope, there was no such reason”, she eventually responded, her voice catching a sweet undertone.  
  
Julian decided to rest his head on his hands -that were more or less spread over the desk- and made a bored face. He was aiming for a cool look rather than his usual passionate mask.  
  
_Peculiar move_ , his sister thought, choosing not to lower her gaze.  
  
“Quite sadistic, aren't we, Zee?” Every other girl would've probably found his newly formed smirk attractive, but Zeera -probably because she knew him best- knew better than letting herself be fooled by such a cheap trick. The little King was annoyed and it was unsurprisingly amusing. Maybe she truly was a sadist after all... .  
  
“Sorry, Jay, but you were sleeping so peacefully and so deep at school that it got a little on my nerves.”  
  
Julian chuckled, as he could foresee a new and fun route for their roleplay. But just before having it all his way, he needed to glance behind Zeera to see the jealousy-attacked girl they were putting up the show for. His extreme teasing had been really effective; the princess was suffering at the sight of what she wanted to believe was her knight, offering his precious attention to another girl. She had kept seeing this shameless intruder in the past two months and it was making the blood boil in her veins.  
  
“Oh, look at Louise, sis, maybe even this much was a little too much”, the little cold King murmured, his cruel smirk showing no mercy.  
  
“Tsk, tsk...you're too much, brother...”, Zeera responded with exactly as feeble words.  
  
However, the break was slowly coming to an end and their act had to obey the same rules. Such a dramatic royal as Julian was of course never going to end things so suddenly though. With a worryingly sly look capturing his face like a shameless shadow, the ninth grader grabbed Zeera's wrist and placed a short kiss on her cheek. As might have been expected, he let his gaze escape “by pure mistake” to the jealousy-consumed girl at the other end of the class.  
  
“I think I'm starting to despise you, dude...”, Zeera whispered.  
  
“Oh, but I love you, sis...” Their whispers would have probably continued much longer, hadn't it been the end of the break.  
  
“How charming”, she declared out loud, flicking his forehead. “So long, my puppy...!”  
  
The King suddenly felt as if his throne had crumbled under the weight of her words. Puppy?! For the queen that he crowned to deal so much damage to his perfectly carved mask..tsk, unacceptable.  
  
Since his sister was no longer in a convenient range, Julian mumbled more to himself: “There will be payback, sis...”  
  
The bond between these two was so strong though...that Zeera nearly felt these words trying to tear at her as if being something of darker origin.  
  
“He'll tickle me so bad for this.”, she murmured, an amused sigh coming along and hopping between her whispers.  
  
Just as she was closing the door to Julian's classroom, she caught a glimpse of something exceedingly fast and dressed in colorful clothes coming her way. Before she managed to understand what exactly that thing was, it had already fallen against her, making her feel not only attacked, but also all exposed. What the...?!  
  
  


* * *

  
  
***Zeera, Eliza, later Erika**  
  
The redheaded girl opened her eyes slowly, only to find herself collapsed under a suspicious weight covered in what looked like colorful spots. Wait...what? No, this really isn't right... .  
  
After a few moments of repeatedly blinking and squinting, Zeera finally managed to make something out of the little disaster lying on top of her. It was dressed in a charmingly red dress -too thin a material though, so sad- decorated with colorful flowers and there was this fluffy and soft scarf that was shamefully tickling her without any regard for her private space. Quite pretty clothes... .  
  
The disaster itself, although hard to be seen as a human at first, wasn't actually that heavy, had boobs and blonde hair. Zeera let out a dramatic sigh of relief, then said: “So it is human after all...”  
  
“More than just human”, the still unindentified character said. “It's me, Zee.” They both got up and just as the other girl smiled sheepishly and felt like offering her apologies for the rather weird turn of events, the redhead, barely letting her gaze brush upon the blonde girl's traits, said: “It's me? What do you mean? And more importantly...oh God, it spoke!”  
  
This little sly fox did recognize Eliza in that red dress and without her hair braided to the side, but there was simply never enough teasing.  
  
“Come on, Zee!”  
“Oh, but no one said I wasn't coming, honey... .”  
“....”  
“....”  
“!!!!”  
“Ok, I'm sorry, just a tiny joke, you poor thing.” Zeera paused to throw a sincere apologetic look at her friend. “Since when do you wear such clothes anyways?”  
  
“Such...? Does...this dress look weird?”, the blonde girl quietly inquired, tilting her head like the ball of innocence she was.  
  
Zeera couldn't help laughing upon recognizing her own reaction in this girl. They had gone together on riding camps when they were little, alright.  
  
“Nah, honey, it looks really cute on you! Although you never get them right. You should have braided your hair to those pigtails you used to wear when you were little. It would have looked so much better than way.”  
“Just surprisingly unfortunate, right...”  
  
Zee grinned at her remark, reminiscent of the old times.  
  
“As always...”, she murmured, a little nostalgic.  
  
Only a moment of silence had enough time to pass them by however, before the redhead decided to speak up again.  
  
“Well then, still not gonna apologize for knocking me down like that?” She grinned at the sight of the weird pained expression Eliza immediately made.  
  
_Have you already....forgotten about it? Sigh..._  
  
“Ah, uh, uhm....I'm sorry! You see, mom gave me this little present for you guys this morning and Julian kind of ignored me and...”  
  
“And it's perfectly fine, my little stuttering mess.” The redhead had interrupted her with such a gently caring voice, she almost made even herself smile.  
  
“You can give me now whatever your mom entrusted you with and you'll be free. Free not to be any more late at the next class than you already are.”  
  
“Oh, shoot, is it that late already?! I'm sorry!!!”  
  
With a new wave of stuttering threatening to take her over, Eliza scouted her surroundings with slight despair. But after a few moments, she spotted it somewhere on the ground; it was a small, black box. The blonde girl gently picked it up and handed it over to her old friend.  
  
“Here you go...”, she murmured, probably just as curious as he redhead regarding the contents of that present. On her way to school...she had been a little too distracted to even remember something as trivial a her own curiosity.  
  
Zeera quietly opened the black box and something sparkled inside. A little diamond? Hmm, unlikely. Another type of gemstone? Probably not. A ray of light?? Come on, be a little reasonable, my conscience... .  
  
“A rose....”, Zeera whispered, the corners of her mouth twitching and then forming a lovely smile. Eliza's gaze burst into the box as well and discovered not really surprised that the sign of gratitude her mother had chosen was a crystal rose, the Hyem family's old symbol.  
  
“I'm...a little speechless. I don't know what to say, Izzy...”  
  
“ See you next break maybe?”, the blonde suggested, realizing that she might indeed be late for class.  
  
Zeera giggled visibly amused, but still gestured her friend to wait and went back in, mumbling something that definitely sounded like: “Let me get Julian...”  
  
Panicking, Eliza made up some excuse about being very late, more to herself (for the whole hallway was as good as completely deserted) and ran away from the scene of what could have been a clicheic, but sweet romance novel- moment.  
  
_No, I'm sure it wouldn't have turned out like that either way.  
  
_ Back in her own class, the teacher was surprisingly (and rather conveniently) late as well, so, right before returning to her seat, she took the liberty of catching her breath first. Gazing towards her assigned desk while at it, Eliza noticed Erika, her deskmate and best friend, with the feet stretched over her chair too. Before even getting the chance to sigh amused like she always did, Eliza's eyes were invaded by her friend's prying look.  
  
Upon finding something particular in them, Erika let a strange expression claim her features, one that critically said: Weakness disgusts me.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
***Eliza and Erika**  
  
It was not a class that Eliza afforded to treat with such indifference, but her scaredy cat of a heart just wouldn't be obedient for once and stop pounding.  
  
“This is hardly fair...”, she found herself whispering while absentmindedly glancing out the window. The nature shivering outside was still displaying that cold and sad shade of grey she had seen in the morning....right as her and Julian's gazes had met.  
  
_Long enough for it to become my sweet torment..._ . More as a momentary distraction than anything else, she unleashed even more of her thoughts: _Quite poetic. And yet, (insert dramatic voice here) it is so hopeless, this love of mine. I'm so hopelessly chained up to...  
  
Just shush, s_ ome more rational thoughts then spitted in a successful attempt to stop her from thinking even more about it.  
  
And yet, what she was thinking was not at all untrue. Her heart was foolishly chained up to her memories of a younger Julian Hyem, a boy that had treated her so differently. Eliza didn't allow herself to believe that he had truly changed so much. Maybe all these thorns of his that were hurting her...were nothing but a mere decoy. No matter how poisonous, these thorns should never stop her, she once promised herself. She would never avert her gaze from the beautiful petals of the guarded rose... .  
  
At some point during her spacing out, she heard the sound of a decayed leaf. I-I mean, ahem, that would be the sound of a memo shoved right in front of her.  
  
On that mistreated piece of paper laid only two letters, forming a single word: Yo!  
  
In spite of the shallowness of the note, Eliza could clearly hear her deskmate's voice echoing between her other thoughts. Tilting her head by old habit, the blonde girl glanced to her right. Erika claimed the tiny paper once again and scribbled something on its back hastily.  
  
_What happened?_  
  
Still stubborn enough not to let her words be conveyed in oh-such-a-devilish way as that of writing them down, Eliza shook her head slowly, a little unsure. She could nearly hear her friend click her tongue in her mind, but she really didn't want to talk about it.  
  
Ripping another piece of paper from her notebook -admittedly bigger than the former- the girl wrote something again.  
  
_Did you talk to him?_  
  
A little afraid of the daggers that question might be hiding, Eliza shook her head again. Hadn't it been for what had seemed like divine intervention at first, Erika would've probably assassinated her.  
  
“Shinohara”, someone spoke in a low voice similar to the tone of a growling wolf's. Both girls had completely forgotten that they were still in the middle of class. And math on top of it. Maybe such an intervention hadn't been all that divine after all... .  
  
“Have you heard any of what I have been saying in the past 10 minutes?”  
  
The formerly scary Erika was now...well, trying to be less scary. Eliza let out a small, silent laugh, feeling her friend grabbing and squeezing her hand, hoping probably not to snap at the teacher. Erika adored math, but utterly despised their teacher. The feeling had been mutual since the very first day of high school, even though she was Class President.  
  
“You too, Miss Maynore. Is that proper behaviour for a lady?”  
  
Hearing the teacher address her friend too was too much for Erika and she just wasn't able to keep her mouth shut anymore and suddenly rose from her seat.  
  
“With all due respect, we didn't do anything that goes against the school's rules. Losing focus for a few minutes out of an entire class is surely something not that punishment-demanding. I think everyone in this class can confirm that neither of us uttered a single word.  We did nothing against the math class.”  
  
Erika had spoken in a firm voice, a refreshing mature attitude by her side. The tension was increasing, but it was instantly dissolved by one of the boys' childish laughter.  
  
“OMG, punishment-demanding? This sounds like a fun bdsm shit....”, he murmured rather... easily audible.  
  
The Class' President sighed tiredly and proceeded to sit down again, muttering something about 'idiots everywhere'. Startled by such a peculiar turn of events, the teacher gulped down whatever other words he had wanted to say to the girl and turned around to face the blackboard.  
  
“Thank you.” Eliza's murmur brought a playful smile to her friend's lips.  
  
“You'd better offer something in return, you damned woman.”  
  
Eliza grinned too. “Like pizza?”  
  
“As if I'd let you off so cheap... . Something like...information.”  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
***Eliza and Erika, later Shiro**  
  
The school day had finally come to an end, yet there were still several things unsolved. Erika realized this as soon as she kicked the classroom's door open. She had just returned from her Class Prez activities and wanted to retrieve Eliza from where she had left her. What she caught sight of though....was most definitely not her friend. Nope, not possible. It was some human enveloped in what looked like a dark shadow given physical form.  
  
“Bruh...what is wrong with the atmosphere in here?”  
  
The blonde turned to face her, radiating nothing but that creepy darkness.  
  
“The atmosphere...?, she mumbled, another black cloud taking her over. “Should I try and open the window?”  
  
_Pfft...at least her sense of humour is intact.  
  
_ “Listen, Izzy....can you tell me what happened? Please? You've been like this all day long.”  
  
Eliza obediently started to tell her the story from its very beginning. Erika was getting exactly what she had expected: events described by a monotonous voice with a subtle hint of sadness.  
  
_Ugh, I'd like you to drain even more of my vital energy if possible... .Please, I really feel a massochstic urge warming up to me.  
  
_ “Ok, ok...I changed my mind. What if we stop by a gaming cafe before we head home? I so gotta slap some fun into you, honey. And you can tell me the rest of the story there.”  
  
The wicked dark clouds that had been holding the corners of the blonde girl's mouth still were slaughtered by her friend's idea to go and kill some time in a gaming cafe. Eliza finally smiled and -as Erika gladly noticed- it reached her eyes too. Eliza's eyes were the colour of baby blue sea and in most days it was a friendly sea with only a warm wind inspiring waves on its surface. Such was the serenity of this unique highschool student. Even so, at times the walking ray of sunshine could turn into a tiny drama queen. Oh, well... .  
  
  


* * *

  
  
Although she could hear her friend repeatedly calling her name, Eliza couldn't take her eyes off the boy she was staring at. His strangely warm gaze resting on her figure triggered a weird desire inside of her.  
  
She had always loved to narrate stories, to give them life; this was exactly what she felt like doing at that moment: being the subjective narrator of her own experience and feelings.  
  
_I was looking at him, directly in his eyes, that stranger's, but somehow, it felt as if he was not human. His emotions were not being reflected in his eyes at all. They were a silent, gentle darkness, a bunch of oddly familiar shodows snuggling against each other. And he seemed to stare at something beyond me... . When the look in his eyes started to warm up to me, almost as if realizing only then that there was someone else in his proximity, his features sweetened suddenly. At first, there was only the sketch of a smile on his lips, but it grew into something rather charming-_  
  
“Eliza!!!”  
  
The mesmerized girl shivered at the sound of her name being called with such fierceness. She glanced confused in Erika's direction. The girl seemed to have run to catch up to her. Just what in the world...?  
  
“I've been calling your name for eons now, you know...”  
  
“Oh.”  
  
Such a complex reaction.  
  
“And where have you been? I shift my gaze for the briefest of moments and you simply disappear.”  
  
“I...I'm sorry. I was...” She made a small pause to glance at the boy. 'I was staring at him' would have surely been one hell of an answer. Not creepy at all.  
  
_Snap out of it, Eliza!_ , she told herself, struggling to find a good excuse for whatever it was that she had been doing.  
  
“I...was thinking that the chilly autumn wind is really poetic!”  
  
“Right... .”  
  
Being as proud of herself for replying in that manor as she was, Eliza probably didn't even notice that her friend was most definitely not buying that. Even so, she grinned and, with a short glance from the corner of her eye towards the boy, took Eliza by the hand and dragged her away. The blonde, obviously charmed girl was struggling not to look over her shoulder at the person she was leaving behind. Something about him and the way his expression changed when he finallly noticed her presence was so vexingly familiar. Something about him had felt warm and cozy. Yet, before her eyes, there had stood only a stranger.  
  
“Say, dearie, what were you staring so wildly at?”  
  
Oh, so she had noticed.  
  
“I mean, I agree that boy was pretty cute, but...don't you already have Julian?”  
  
“Huh? Eri, it's so not like that...”  
  
“Ah, what am I saying, even! That black-haired Prince Charming had such beautiful eyes! And that smile, oh my God, that-”  
  
“Erika... .” Eliza's voice was not only raised, it was also pure danger.  
  
“Come on, no need to get defensive. Betraying your feelings for Little Lord Hyem is not a bad thing!”  
  
“Erika!”  
  
“Ok, ok, sorry. It's just a lot of fun to tease you.”  
  
“Grr, why is it always so fun for you uys to tease me?!”  
  
“I wonder...”, Erika mumbled amused as she opened the door to the cafe and beckoned her friend to follow her.  
  
The door closed with a loud sound behind them, letting the rest fo the world wait outside, face pressed against the painted wooden door.  
  
  
  
  
“Liz, my dear, dear Liz”, the boy whispered to himself after the blonde girl had left. “I finally found you... .”  
  
He stared quietly in the distance and eventually gave a small grin permission to settle down.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
***Somewhere in the Underworld, The World of Dreams**  
***Miro, Sathor**  
  
“Master”, murmured a figure of questionable character, noisily kneeling before his lord.  
  
The fragile silence that had been standing up until that very moment on the throne felt to the ground and was shattered to pieces... .  
  
A pair of empty eyes glanced behind at the young servant , seemingly unbothered by his shameless intrusion. Without saying anything in return, the eyes lost interest -they hadn't really looked interested in the presence of the servant to begin with- and averted their gaze, focusing on whatever their owner had been doing. Feeling a certain degree o desolation, the young servant proceeded to hurt the silence again.  
  
“Master, I heard you might be needing my assistance.”  
  
To the silence's great pleasure, there was no answer again.  
  
_What the Great Hell...._ , the servant thought, aware that even the shadows lurking in the dark were probably laughing at him. For someone like the Great Secretary Miro to be ignored by his Lord and Master...what an unnecessary humiliation.  
  
“Lord Sathor, may I rise to my feet?”  
  
His voice had caught an irritated tone, despite his struggle to keep in neutral. _Not half bad though,_ his thoughts whispered, blaming the God for being so troublesome.  
  
The man in the cover of certain unpleasant shadows (he was in his human form) was more than resolved to make fun of the Secretary.  
  
_Fine, have it your way, Your Majesty._ His thoughts had spitted those words, spreading a mischievous smile all over his weirdly human features. He was part of the Dream World after all, he was most definitely not human himself.  
  
“I've heard some rumours these days... Are you going by the name of Lucy now, Your Supreme Darkness?”  
  
Sathor snapped his fingers and sighed in annoyance, turning around to face the trouble.  
  
“What is it, you odious character?”  
  
Miro made something of a hurt face, staring in played disbelief at his master.  
  
“My Lord, I cannot believe that I have offended Your Darkness to such extend, I simply do not seem able to comprehend the greatness of my sin...”  
  
The God rolled his eyes and growled: “Just shut that mouth of yours and it will certainly prevent you from offending your oh-so-beloved master any further, you lesser mortal.”  
  
“But, I am...quite immortal.”  
  
“Worthless details”, Sathor decided, trying to dismiss the Secretary with a gesture of his hand. Probably nothing more than a futile attempt though.  
  
“Lord Sathor, Her Highness Goddess Nyr wants you to-”  
  
For sure, the servant was keen on getting his point across. The God had to receive the piece of information he had been sent to deliver. Until then, he shall not leave.  
  
“I do understand that dearie Nyr wants me, but I could not be more uninterested. Tell her that I have to politely decline her offer.”  
  
Miro could have sworn the God smirked. Even through all those shadows. _Tsk, are you, angels be damned, kidding me?!_   Had the Secretary been anything closer to a human, his blood pressure would have surely risen.

“I deeply apologize, Your Darkness”, he began again, swallowing some of his frustration down. “That was not what Her Highness intended to-”  
  
The God cut him off in a deadpan voice:” Yes, I am aware.”  
  
“Then...wouldn't you like to hear what-”  
  
“No.”  
  
_One more word from this one and I will file a complaint._ Miro's mind was a scary and unforgiving place.  
  
“What are you doing though, my Dark Lord, if I may ask?”  
  
“Oh, nothing much.”, he simply responded, seemingly protective of whatever might have been in front of him.  
  
“Time for some fun”, the Secretary mumbled, as he transformed into a majestic crow and flew all the way to where the God was spending his time.  
  
Sathor blinked a few times in sheer confusion, upon seeing the crow staring at him. “What... are you doing?”  
  
“What are you doing, Master? Is that...?”, the crow muttered, glancing baffled at a computer's screen. That human thingy.  
  
“Anime”, the God replied. “I am watching Anime. You ought to try it out some time too, it is surprisingly good.”  
  


* * *

  
  
  
Miro was leaning against the cold stone wall, mercilessly imprisoned by his thoughts.  
  
“This is bad. No..., this is beyond bad. If His Darkness doesn't go back to being the symbol of greatness that he was, I'll be doomed for sure.”  
  
The grim Secretary let out a heavy, pained sigh and glanced back at the dimly lit hallway. His barely whispered words echoed unnaturally.  
  
“I ought to do something about all this. I'm going to revive my master's darkness. And for that, I'll need some puppets. To put up a new show.”  
  
Let the game begin!


End file.
